Model Maker

January 16th, 2012

Sam brought a love of illusion and fun plus a huge load of non-photographic craftsmanship to his photography, his home and his hobbies. Trained as painter, sculptor and photographer he also poured his love of making things into furniture making, vintage car restoration, gardening, model making and set building.

I remember (I was only about 8 at the time) that he had an assignment from a cigarette company to produce a pack shot with Rome airport in the background. For one reason or another flying to Rome was not on – winter weather, permission to shoot on the tarmac – whatever. He calmly told the client that he would recreate the airport in the studio. Today I came across this shot of Sam with the Rome airport model he built in his Johannesburg studio.

Airport Model by Sam Haskins

Airport Model by Sam Haskins CU 03

The final shot is somewhere in his archive. If I find it I will add it to this post. If anyone has a copy please send me a scan.

The image below was one of several humorous models and photographs that he used to punctuate the sequence of images in his slide show.

I am a Camera model by Sam Haskins

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Sam Haskins News

December 9th, 2011

Because the blog has always been a bit like a magazine, it has long occurred to me that we need another web presence for Sam which is more like a newspaper. So, now there is ‘Sam Haskins News

Sam’s presence on Twitter and Facebook will continue to alert the social media world to new content on the blog, news and web site.

Sam Haskins News ss

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Sam Haskins a Bologna – Sam’s ‘lost’ masterpiece

December 7th, 2011

In 1984 the city of Bologna invited a number of international photographers to interpret the city. Of the resulting portfolios one was selected for an exhibition and a book. Published only in Italian and long out of print, to many lovers of photography outside of Italy, ‘a Bologna’ is Sam’s lost masterpiece.

The prints now reside in Bologna’s Cineteca’s Photographic Archive

Sam took Bologna’s juxtaposition of modern/ancient, youth/tradition, pious/secural and fused it with his own passion for montage in image making. Characteristic of his location work he completed the task with amazing speed shooting the whole book in about ten days and then spending about six weeks in his studio working on the black and white prints and montages. Mixing colour and black and white presented him with no formulaic or dogmatic contradictions – he just did it and it worked.

The book and exhibition have recently (2009) been the subject of a thesis produced by Ms Fabiana Gabrielli a History of Art student at Bologna university. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time that a single Sam Haskins project has formed the basis of an academic study. Someday an inspired soul will take a deep look at Cowboy Kate and the book’s sustained influence on image making and fashion.

Bologna Arrow Montage

Bologna Long Shadow

Bologna War Angel Montage

Angel over Bologna Sam Haskins

Bologna dark steps Sam Haskins

We posted to the blog in 2007 about ‘a Bologna’ and for the sake of reference cohesion, images not included in the list above are repeated below.

Bologna bus 02

Bologna Aida 02

Bologna Manhole Cover 01

Bologna Pylon Blog 01

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November – a landmark month for Sam Haskins

November 9th, 2011

Sam Haskins would have been 85 on the 11th of this month, the 26th of November 2011 will also mark the second anniversary of his death. Arguably his greatest single work, ‘November Girl’ published in 1967, continues to exert a powerful and widespread influence on the world of glamour, fashion and art photography

To celebrate his courageous genius with the elusive ingredients of model, lights, studio and darkroom – here is a selection of images from ‘November Girl’. This was the culminating title in the figure trilogy from the sixties, ‘Five Girls’ (1962), ‘Cowboy Kate’ (1964) and ‘November Girl’ (1967). Along with ‘African Image’ also published in 1967, November Girl saw the high water mark of Sam’s pioneering creative work with black and white photography in the sixties. African Image pushed the envelope with book layout harder than November Girl, it was Sam’s book layout magnum opus but in terms of photographing a nude model in the studio November Girl remains unsurpassed to this day.

One of Sam’s stylistic signatures was the use of simple ‘easily-to-hand’ props. A black raincoat from Macy’s, a cheap set (which of course he built) made to look like a bohemian loft in Paris (one of the reasons, no doubt, why the French are so in love with ‘November Girl’), a simple cotton scarf, odd postcards and collectibles from his home.

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins CU 12

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins CU 14

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins CU 11

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins CU 10B

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins CU 15

November Girl by Sam Haskins RC3C

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins CU 13B

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins BO 16B

Novermber Girl by Sam Haskins SS 01

The selection above is intended to give an airing to a small sampling of the many gems from November Girl that are routinely overlooked by editors who seem to keep choosing the same iconic images. Some of the famous November Girl shots have featured on the blog before but for the sake of a cohesive tribute I am repeating them below.

November Black Raincoat by Sam Haskins 07

November Girl Bare Light 01

November and Horse by Sam Haskins

November Girl Church Towers by Sam Haskins

November Dance by Sam Haskins

November and Portrait by Sam Haskins

November Girl by Sam Haskins Black Raincoat 05

November Cape Docks by Sam Haskins

[Ludwig]

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